I'm not the best indie hacker
jasonleow • 14 Aug 2024 •
I’m not the best writer, but it is a strength. I might be a 90th percentile writer.
And I’m not the best marketer, but it is a strength. Again, maybe 90th percentile? I’m better than most, but if you pass 100 people on the street it won’t be hard to find some people better than me.
What I have gradually learned is that it is not your strengths, but your combination of strengths that sets you apart. It is the fact that writing and marketing are mutually reinforcing—and that I enjoy both—that leads to great results.
How can you combine your strength? That’s something I would encourage everyone to think about. You will find talented people in every area of life. It’s the combinations that are rare.
I’m not the best developer, but it can be a strength. I’m not sticky about whether my code is clean, whether I’m using best practices, or the latest, shiny new tech stack. Coding is just a means to make a product for me, and if it does the job with minimal maintenance and learning curve, I’m cool with it. Even nocode.
I’m not the best marketer, but it can be a strength. I don’t know how to self-promote and sell, but I can share a real and raw experience that I went through. I might not distribute widely but I can connect deeply. I write and write, every single day – that consistency alone, and all the accumulated content, could come in useful.
I’m not the best designer, but it can be a strength. I chase timeless design patterns, not the fad of the day. I go for plain and pragmatic rather than fancy and animated, something that does the job, helps users saves time, complete their tasks fast, occasionally delight them. It’s not Tailwind, or Shadcn UI, it’s just plain CSS, and every dev knows CSS.
I’m not the best at anything. Pretty average. I’m just an average indie hacker. Average of averages. But if James Clear is right, maybe it’s the combination of averages that can produce something exceptional.
Maybe I can combine:
- Writing and marketing – writing, sharing about the indie hacker experience
- Coding and nocode – How to combine code and nocode tools as a tech stack to ship fast
- Consistency and building – How to keep going, a little bit every day
- Social good and profitability – How to do good while earning money
If you know me, what else do you think my strengths are? How can they be combined to form something rare?
Comments
Thanks @haideralmosawi ! Yeah my post seems just scratching the surface. Might be opportunity to think more about each.
Maybe the indie dad? How do you work on side projects as a parent.
You might also want to delve deeper into the skills you’ve identified. For example, I don’t just think of myself as a writer but a good explainer. I help make concepts easier to understand. That’s the sort of writing/communication I’m good at.
Maybe it’s not marketing, but storytelling marketing? Especially since you want to convey the indie hacker experience.
Your consistency + helping people with accountability (which is what this site does for writing) can be useful for others. What about scoping, not just consistency? Lots of writers and coders pat themselves on the back for keeping up a writing/coding habit without ever launching something! Can you get people to launch a product by making their vision smaller?
I love this personal branding/self-awareness exercise 😃